VICTORIA – The "gutsy" folks at CHEK-TV in Victoria “who refused to give up their fight to save local TV” have been chosen as the 2009 winners of the J-Source Journalism Integrity Award, the Canadian Journalism Project announced today.
After Canwest failed to find a buyer and moved to shut the station down, the employees of CHEK announced a takeover plan to acquire 25% of the station and find local investors to own the remaining 75%. They also organized a campaign to support the plan and save CHEK.
Employees raised $2.5 million within a few weeks, and on September 4, Canwest said it had reached a deal to sell the station to CHEK employees and local investors for $2 including some programming, use of its Vancouver studios, and leasing, studios at favourable rates.
Station manager John Pollard is leading employees to operate CHEK as a local independent station, dedicated to improving the quality and quantity of local news, including a new 10 p.m. newscast (and a new schedule mix of movies, older programming -both Canadian and American – and syndicated programming).
In voting for CHEK-TV employees as the winner of the 2009 Journalism Integrity Award, members of J-Source’s editorial committee applauded the "guts" of the staff who refused to give up. "Journalists who take control of their future and their craft are role models who inspire others, and provide hope for a future in quality journalism," one editorial committee member commented, says the J-Source release.
The Canadian Journalism Project (CJP) and its web sites, J-Source.ca (English) and ProjetJ.ca (French), are projects of The Canadian Journalism Foundation in collaboration with leading journalism schools and organizations across Canada.
